broccoli is big.

Day 2.

Feeling amazing today. And it's nice to know why. Nice little 25 min cardio workout last night did so much, along with my healthy food day! Seriously, the bursting-pants effect even feels so much smaller today...

I ended up making some fab chicken (sauteed in a few sprays of PAM with garlic, onions and mushrooms) and a HUGE salad last night for din din. I was totally full!! It was such a nice feeling!

Today:

Breakfast: These are AMAZING! Serving size is three, but two is plenty, especially when you're putting one on 1/2 of a whole wheat bagel and mushing it together to make fabulousness. And eating it with a yummy banana.

Fab salad for lunch, and plans of more chicken are in my evening plans....possibly a little black bean action? We'll see.

I'm going to see Nights in Rodanthe tonight with my roommate and her friend. I don't know why I'm going to subject myself to this torture of holding back tears through a movie that I know will make me cry, but I think I could use a good cry to be honest. I'm happy, but I just haven't cried in a while....and it really feels good to sometimes. I just hate the "holding back tears during a movie" feeling....it makes me stuffy.

So this is the dressing I'm currently eating on my lunchtime salad with extremely large impossible to eat pieces of broccoli:

Evidently, Paul Newman died. Evidently, Paul Newman was a famous actor that I've never heard of. The other folk at the office gave me the 3rd degree that I didn't know who he was. Oh well, I'm freaking young people!! Do you know who Ted from Hey Dude is? I don't think so.

.the health starts here.

So, today is day one.



Day one of trying my hardest to be freaking healthy. To lose weight. To be thin again. What happened to my nice little body? Oh, I'll tell you what happened. Stupid birth control, for one, paired with a lack of exercise and not the best food decisions, and I've gained about 8 pounds. Last year (wow maybe even longer ago than that) I lost 30 pounds. I have gained back about 10 of those pounds. I've felt pretty dang good up until recently, so the time is now. Time to get back in shape.



I'm going on my yearly trip to a far away land again this year. December 1. December 1 is my deadline to be fit. To enjoy getting in a bathing suit and saying, "hmm...I look pretty dang ok!" Jamaica will not enjoy me as much if I'm uncomfortable with my body the whole time. I will hate myself in pictures if I'm a chunker. Time to get with the program.


I've decided to try and blog every day (or at least every weekday) about my struggles and trials with losing weight. And I'm asking for suggestions. I know that good eating paired with good exercise is what works for me. No crazy diets, no hard core meds. Just lifestyle changes that I need to get back on track. I have maintained my weight loss for quite some time now and I don't want to get off the health train. Because once you get off, it freaking leaves your ass in the dust...choo choo m'r f'ers.

So, feel free to give your input. If you too are trying to get back on the health train, jump on with me and let's do this together! Give me your comments and ideas and please, some encouragement.....because motivation is so hard for me to find.


Today was day one. I feel huge. I am popping out of my jeans. Shit, I feel like I'm even popping out of my hoodie!! WHO POPS OUT OF A HOODIE??!! eff. Thank God I started this when I did! Mind you, I've had some very strange gastro-intestinal issues going on lately (I won't divulge any further) but I think that's to blame for some of my bloat feeling.


I ate pretty healthy today. Summary:

Breakfast (gorgeous): This, my friends, is 1/2 of a whole wheat bagel with some reduced fat pb and apple slices with a few drizzles of honey, paired with some fruit and a cup of hot tea (in my favorite cup ever from my home town.)



Lunch: Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash (pretty dang good!) I recommend it.



Snack: the other half of the b-fast apple with some reduced fat crunchy pb and a few drops of honey.


Now I'm going to the gym for some cardio and tonight I will be eating chicken breast and veg. I bought a big bag of indiv. wrapped chick. breasts yesterday so hopefully I can just make one at a time when it's just me.



We'll see if I make it to day two. ;-)

ugh, can't i just wake up skinny?

Bear Shit.

A few pics from Bear Shit Hike '08. Quite a time.

This is bear poop.

We weren't supposed to go there. This was the sign we saw on the way back.

Girls showing off our booties. Trying to scare the bears away.

We made it through alive. ;-)

bertolli

I love this stuff. The chicken florente and farfalle, mmm....with spinach in an alfredo sauce. Holy cow. I know it's not the best thing for you in the world, but dang, it's delicious.

Just got back from the "bear shit hike 08" - will post a few pics when I get a chance. All I can say is, wow - I'm glad we're alive!! haha! (it really wasn't that bad, but definitely got a bit scary at times.)

you know you're hungry when......

....a sharpie smells like a hot fabulous cheesy pizza.

gosh, i'm hungry.

mellow mushroom super fab greek salad, here i come! :)

some of the work ladies are going to Gatlinburg this weekend for the second annual Long Ass Hike. Not really, it's just going to be about a 4 miler this year - but last year, yes, that was a long ass hike!! 8 miles! whoa nelly. but i loved it.

i will post pics upon our return. we're going to have a blast. i can't wait!

scarves and hoodies

yay for the nice weather - about DANG time! i finally went and bought a few fall articles.

i am fat. i need to simmer with the adult beverages.

i've been a sucky blogger lately......so i apologize for the three people who actually read my blog. ha.

i'm just so freaking busy i don't have time to generate thoughts, let alone write them.

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3453452345234!#$@#!$%#$%^%^&$%^&

other than that, life is good.

why is the above a hyperlink? i don't know. it's not supposed to be. don't click on it.

pumpkins and leaves and all that jazz...

-m

a picture of my lovely grandmother (nana) supporting the Blue Raiders when my fam was in town for an MTSU v MD football game. (GO BLUE, by the WAY!)

hello from outer space

Well, not really. Just the way I feel. I've been very spaced these past few days. I think it's the post-long weekend zone out. The boy and I went on a road trip this holiday weekend to a few different places. First, we went to Greenville SC and photographed a wedding for a good friend of mine. It was very difficult, but lots of fun and a great learning experience. AND, the photos turned out great, to boot. Sidenote: Why do people say "to boot" by the way? I often wonder if I hear these phrases and actually just turn them around in my head and they aren't what the words even are, for example....is "to boot" even the word "boot?" what if it's another word? I should learn what things mean before I say them....

Anyway, after lovely Greenville, we went to Asheville and did the Biltmore thing (which is amazing and not as cheesy as we thought it would be) and then did a night and a morning scoping out downtown Asheville. Our thoughts on Asheville were about the same, and disclaimer - I think that because we were there on a dead holiday weekend (which was surprising in itself) - that maybe we got a bad vibe and we're not giving it enough credit. Just wanted to put that out there....

We liked downtown Asheville, and loved that there was nothing commercial about it... not a single golden arch or starbucks in sight (hah - as I sit here and sip my pumpkin spice latte from yours truly). But we thought that the city was lacking something. We couldn't put our fingers on it - it just didn't seem like a very happy town. The people seemed tired. They seemed like they didn't welcome or appreciate the tourists that were more than happy to attempt (key word, attempt) to come drop some tourist dollars and boost their "in need of a boost" city. Nothing was open on a Sunday evening on a national holiday weekend. Nothing opened the next morning until 11am.... If it even opened at all.

The locals we spotted out were either young hippies who seemed to look at us like we were aliens wherever we went, or they were middle aged burnouts who were begging us for money at 10 am on a Monday in the middle of the street like it was no big deal. We discussed it a lot and we don't know if the city just doesn't give a shit and could care less if tourists enjoy it because it's all they need and want, or if they'd like to actually see people walking the streets and they want some life boosted back into the town. It just felt like it was missing some happiness, and some heart. It has so much potential, but didn't seem to care. Maybe that's the beauty in it - that when you go there (as a tourist) you're getting the actual experience - a quasi ghost town where a store may or may not be open, and they're keeping the rest of the world out, whatever it takes. Strange experience, but I would like to give it another chance, maybe on a Saturday. I can't judge it yet. Great art galleries though - we loved the art galleries (that were actually open).

On a totally different topic, this is something that I was thinking today as I was performing one of life's most intimate, personal and disgusting bodily functions next to a co-worker today. Pooping. I find it hilarious that we as humans are totally ok with just going into a stall, shitting, and coming back out like "hey, i just took a big ol' dump. what's up?" Especially, I find it amusing when I am so comfortable with it, that I walk into the bathroom and do a #2 right next to a co-worker of mine while we discuss whatever might be going on at the time. What's your take on public pooping? Or pooping in general? Are you comfortable with just doing it whenever, wherever? Or are you a private, in your home, your significant other doesn't even think you have a booty hole kind of person? Are you so grossed out by it that you can't even discuss it? I'm anxious to know. :)